The resumption of debate on the immigration bill is two hours late. A GOP Hill source says that this reflects that the "clay pigeon"  the agreed list of 24 amendments known only to Reid and McConnell and the grand bargainers  is still being finished. Right up to the cloture-to-bring-back-the-bill vote today, supporters were wheeling and dealing, trying to ensure "aye" votes by promising senators that their particular amendments would be included. Now the revamped list of amendments  300 pages long, nearly as long as the bill itself  has to be cleaned up and retyped (so that it isn't quite so obvious which senators were brought on board with amendment promises).

The messy horse-trading represents, the source claims, "the worst of the Congressional sausage factory."

Ah yes, our elected officials working hard to legitimize their gross failures. Rather than enforce laws that have been on the books for decades, they turned their heads and looked the other way, ignoring the voice of the people who elected them, until such a time that the situation is percieved to be impossible to manage. Twenty years ago Reagan granted amnesty to millions of illegal aliens, we were told then that things would be different, laws would be enforced. Bush did nothing, Clinton did nothing, now Bush is doing even less to enforce our laws and secure our borders. I can hardly wait to see what happens in another twenty years.

Ah yes, our elected officials working hard to legitimize their gross failures. Rather than enforce laws that have been on the books for decades, they turned their heads and looked the other way, ignoring the voice of the people who elected them, until such a time that the situation is percieved to be impossible to manage. Twenty years ago Reagan granted amnesty to millions of illegal aliens, we were told then that things would be different, laws would be enforced. Bush did nothing, Clinton did nothing, now Bush is doing even less to enforce our laws and secure our borders. I can hardly wait to see what happens in another twenty years.

They'll keep coming because they know that all they have to do is avoid an already overworked and understaffed immigration and legal system for a few years and they will get a free pass to becoming a citizen in one of the greatest countries on the planet. No other country handles their immigration the way we do. None.

They'll keep coming because they know that all they have to do is avoid an already overworked and understaffed immigration and legal system for a few years and they will get a free pass to becoming a citizen in one of the greatest countries on the planet. No other country handles their immigration the way we do. None.

The so-called Clay Pigeon amendment, 300-plus pages, is still being drafted. Reviewing it will be impossible. No one has read it through. Thank your Senate GOP leadership for that. The amendment buyoffs are frantically underway. Rumors that the amendment is being re-drafted to include a deal cut with one senator who threw the pro-amnesty forces a cloture vote.

Also hearing: The move to put the Senate in recess was preemptive on Reids part. Putting the Senate in recess ensures that bill opponents cannot seek recognition on the Senate floor and thereby offer amendments or opposes the bill in any way. In sum, it is just one more tool Reid is using to silence dissent. So there you have it. The Senate is closed on a Tuesday afternoon on a day when we are dealing with the massive-in-scope immigration reform bill.

This stinks. Make sure the White House, RNC, and NRSC know it.

3:43pm Eastern update. Thought youd be interested in this e-mail from Heidi H.:

Hi Michelle,

I just got off the phone with NRSC, where it took ~10 minutes for someone to answer my call.

I told the woman who answered that she should add 4 former donors to her list in OK and CO among my family members, and alert Ensign that his cloture vote today (as NRSC chairman) sealed the deal.

She sounded exhausted, and told me that their director is compiling a spreadsheet of all callers by state and the number of donors theyve lost today.

Sounds like its a large number, and if there are any current NRSC donors out there who cant stomach it after today, Im sure the NRSC workers would like to hear from them.

It appears that the NRSC rank and file are against Shamnesty, toobe nice, because they hate this as much as we do!

Right now, the United States Senate stands in recess... WHY? Because the Grand Bargainers (and make no mistake about who these folks are - Republicans hell bent on getting the deal done... ) are working to finalize a 300 plus page amendment (yes I said over 300 pages) which we have not even seen yet. Copies may appear sometime soon, but "only for the Grand Bargainers" until a little later...

If ever there is a time for Senators to be specifically put on the spot for a breach of faith with the American public, it is now... the process is terrible, the substance is terrible and if you think for a minute we should rely on the House of Representatives to stop the bill, think again.

A veteran Senate aide reminded me that the essential function/core responsibility of a Senate majority or minority leader is to represent his party on procedural issues. This responsibility doesn't rest with other members of the party's Senate leadership. Speaking for his party on procedural issues defines the job of a Senate leader. A majority of Republican senators voted against cloture and Senator McConnell voted on the other side. Apparently, that's unprecedented.

Don't you just love the way they represent us? I'd like to be able to say that I don't believe this is happening, but I know better. Now we just wait and watch.

Click to expand...

We should not just wait and watch. That's what the pro amnesty forces are hoping for. The only thing that would get the attention of our representatives in Washington would be a gigantic anti illegal immigration protest march. No amount of blogging or individual emails to complain will cut it. Such stuff will be ignored. If we wait to vote the pro amnesty people out of office, it will be too late. However, if hundreds of thousands (maybe more would be needed) of people show up in Washington to protest amnesty and the protection of business interests looking for cheap exploitable labor, then there might be some chance of blocking Bush-Kennedy-McCain illegal alien amnesty. Our representatives in Washington need to understand that we want border security and our current laws enforced. We will have to show up in Washington to tell them so. After the drive for illegal alien amnesty fails, then we can vote our representatives out of office for not listening to us in the first place.

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